Berlin/Mitte

Berlin Mitte is one of Berlin's oldest districts and represents the "centre" (Mitte) of the city. Most of the main sights are to be found within the Mitte district, once the centre-piece of East Berlin (before 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall) but now undergoing a major revival after years of neglect.

Understand

Orientation

Unter den Linden

Get in

U-Bahn

The Mitte is served by numerous U-Bahn stations. Some of the most convenient are:

Alexanderplatz - for the old centre of East Berlin, now about to experience a major revival

See

Landmarks

the Reichstag => - this imposing building houses the Federal German Parliament or "Bundestag" and was originally completed in 1894 to meet the need of the newly-unified German Empire of the Kaisers' for a larger parliamentary building. The Reichstag was intended to resemble a Renaissance palace, and its architect, Paul Wallot, dedicated the building to the German people (the massive inscription in front still reads: "Dem Deutschen Volke" - 'For the German people'). The Nazi leader Adolf Hitler exploited the fire which gutted the Reichstag building in 1933 by blaming the Communists for the arson and for attempted revolution. There is good evidence to suggest, however, that his followers were actually responsible and that this was a manufactured crisis. When German reunification became a reality, the new republic was proclaimed here at midnight 2 October 1990. The Reichstag has undergone considerable restoration and alteration, not least the addition of a spectacular glass dome designed by the British architect Norman Foster. The Reichstag building is well-known in the art world thanks to Paris-based Bulgarian artist Christo's mammoth 'Wrapped Reichstag' project in 1995. The entire building was swathed in silver cloth for two weeks that summer.

Fernsehturm/Alexanderplatz

:The Fernsehturm's nickname, Telespargel (television-asparagus) does not come close to expressing how this huge monument to tacky 20th-century culture dominates the sweeping, open square.

:This 368-meter high metal vegetable (it's a TV tower) sprouted from the concrete 1965-69 during a particularly hideous Soviet-inspired architectural era in the East. During certain times of day, sunlight reflecting from the top caused a large cross-shaped light to shine down on the city. Called the Rache des Papstes (Pope?s revenge) by nominally atheist East Berliners, the light-cross was an ironic result of socialist architecture. Rumor has it the architect was deprived of more than his next commission after that fiasco.

:At night, the Fernsehturm sometimes appears to be shooting light beams from the tower section, giving the impression it?s a Death Star a la Star Wars.

Unter den Linden

the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) - the only surviving Berlin city gate and a potent symbol of the city

Pariser Platz - the large square in front of the Brandeburg Gate

the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe

the Russian Embassy (formerly the Soviet Embassy, Sowjetische Botschaft)

the Neue Wache ("New Guardhouse")

Museum Island (Museuminsel)

the Pergamon Museum => - the Pergamon Museum is an exercise in exhaustion when plowed through in a short time. Even a whole day here can be considered "short." There are three huge collections housed within this grand building: the Collection of Classical Antiquities, the Museum of Near Eastern Antiquities and the Museum of Islamic Art. The Pergamon Museum was the last museum built on Museuminsel (Museum Island), and was intended to house the great acquisitions brought back to Germany by archaeologists of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Schliemann and his forerunners revolutionized the archaeology world with their precise and increasingly scientific methods. It was their methodology and documentation that began to separate those in the archaeological profession from mere grave-robbers of centuries past! In fact, the adventuresome exploits of Indiana Jones could have been based on some of these men, and the Pergamon Museum is a result of their efforts. Start in the museum's best-known attraction, the Pergamonsaal. The Pergamon Altar (165 BC), from the eponymous Asia Minor city-state, is three stories high and served as the entrance gate to an entire complex. It is astounding both because of its size and extremely precise detail, especially in a frieze which shows the gods battling giants. The entire room is the same color as the building?s stone, making the details on the frieze section stand out even more. Facing the stairs, on the left hand side of the room there is a small-scale model of the altar which allows the viewer to see where the frieze segments would have originally been mounted. A 1:300 scale model of Pergamon city is located on the right side of the room.

Museums and Galleries

Hanf Museum Berlin, Mühlendamm 5 (Bus 142, Bushaltestelle 'Mühlendammbrücke', everything else near Alexanderplatz), 030 / 242 48 27 (info@hanfmuseum.de), open Tue-Fr: 10-20, Sa/So: 12-20, Mo closed; It is the only hemp museum in germany, you can see the history of hemp, the culture and use of it. You can see hemp grow. There is a cafe downstairs, with an open wavelan access. 3,- Euro, Kids under 10 go free, tours are possible; http://www.hanfmuseum.de

the Neptunebrunnen bronze fountain by Reinhold Begas. It was erected in 1891 as a present from the city of Berlin to the Kaiser. It stands between the Marienkirche and the Rotes Rathaus, Berlin?s 5th town hall, built in 1869. This is one of the nicer Neptune statues in Europe, and there are many. Neptune, trident in hand, presides over the square supported by sea-nymphs with webbed feet carrying him on a seashell. Denizens of the deep (a seal, an alligator, snakes and turtles, among others) spray water at him in homage while languishing mer-ladies pour water into the fountain, clutching sea-nets overflowing with marine bounty.

:The Rotes Rathaus, which is the town hall, is so called because it is made of red brick, not due to its former political persuasion. There are nice preussian rooms inside, which are worth a look.

:Looking back in time, it becomes easier to appreciate Alexanderplatz?s importance to Berlin. Historically the square was called Ochsenplatz or Ochsenmarkt (Ox-Place or Market), and the southern segment known as Paradeplatz. The section nearer the old town wall housed a wool and meat market until the nineteenth century and the southern section was used to exercise horses. The square was renamed in 1805 when Tsar Alexander I came to town to make a mutual-defense pact with Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III against Napoleon. Five streets which radiate out from the square like spokes are named after their intended destinations (Schönhauser, Prenzlauer, Greifswalder, Landsberger, and Frankfurter Allees - "allee" is another word contributed to the German language by its seventeenth-century French settlers, meaning boulevard.)

:In 1882 Alexanderplatz gained a train station, cementing its importance as a transportation center. Four years later, north of the station, Berlin?s first large department store, the Zentral-Markthalle opened. The "Berolina," a 7.5 meter high statue by Emil Hundreiser which symbolized Berlin until it was melted down for its copper during World War II, was installed nearby in 1895, close to the then-central police station. All the hustle and bustle would soon come to an end - luckily, doctor and sometime novelist Alfred Döblin immortalized the square in a memoir titled Berlin Alexanderplatz in 1929 before everything came crashing down. Literally.

:During World War II almost everything in Alexanderplatz was bombed out, crashed into or otherwise destroyed.

Nikolaiviertel
Nikolaimuseum
Auswärtiges Amt
Palast der Republik (as long as it is still there, also called "Erichs Lampen Laden")
Haus Schwarzenberg
Hackesche Höfe

Eat

Oranjenburger Strasse / Hackescher Mark is one of the points with most cafe's. At Alexanderplatz its more fast food.

Hackischer Hof (near Hackischer Markt) is a good restaurant with a wide selection of wines. Friendly personell, recommended for breakfast on sundays. €15-25 per Person.

Sleep

Splurge

the Hotel Adlon =>, Pariser Platz / Unter den Linden 77, tel +49 (0)30 2261-0, fax +49 (0)30 2261-2222, mailto:Adlon@Kempinski.com -

External links

Berlin MItte - Explorations of an Urban Conversion - a brillian photo essay / collection, with location maps, reevaling the changes in Berlin city centre over the years since Reunification